Cheat Sheet

Anthropology For Dummies

The study of humanity, or anthropology, starts with the origin and evolution of man. Other elements key to the study of anthropology are human modernity (anatomical and behavioral), defining culture and cultural universals, how man gathered food (subsistence) and the impact it has on social organization, and human language.

How Anthropologists Group the Early Hominids

By studying early hominids (large, bipedal primates) that date back to millions of years, anthropologists can track the development of the human race. When exploring anthropology, 'keep these important points in mind:

The evolutionary process shapes species by replication, variation, and selection, leading to adaptation.

Humans are one of roughly 200 species of the Primate order, a biological group that's been evolving for about 60 million years.

Hominids appear (only in Africa) by at least 4 million years ago with the following adaptive characteristics: bipedalism (habitually walking on two legs), encephalization (larger brains than expected for their body size), small teeth (smaller teeth than expected for their body size — the canines in particular).

The following table summarizes what anthropology has discovered about the main groups of early hominids.

Hominid Group, Diet, and Tool Use

Some Genera and Species Included

Fossil Finds

Dates

Evolutionary Fate

Gracile australopithecines: omnivorous diet with little tool
use

Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus
africanus

A. afarensis in Ethiopia, and A. africanus at
many sites in South and East Africa

Over 4 million years ago (A. afarensis) to about 2
million years ago (later A. africanus)

Robust australopithecines: more herbivorous diet with little or
no tool use.

Australopithecus aethiopicus, Australopithecus
robustus

A. aethiopicus and A. boisei in East Africa,
A. robustus in South Africa

Over 2 million years ago (A. aethipoicus)
to about 1 million years ago (late A. robustus)

Extinction around 1 million years ago

Early Homo: omnivorous diet with more animal tissue
consumption and survival relying on tool use.

Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, earliest Homo
erectus

Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania and Koobi Fora, Kenya

Earliest Homo around 2.5 million years ago; clearly
H. erectus by 1.8 million years ago

Evolved into H. erectus by 1.8 million years ago

Anthropology and Human Modernity

Modern humans have physical and behavioral differences from ancient humans. When you're studying anthropology — specifically, modernity in humans — keep these points in mind. They highlight the most important characteristics of anatomical and behavioral human modernity:

Anatomical modernity is having anatomical characteristics indistinguishable from modern, living humans. Appearing by 100,000 years ago, these characteristics include a larger brain (averaging 1,450cc's), a larger body overall, and the presence of a chin.

Behavioral modernity is behaving in ways that are indistinguishable from modern humans; it appears by 100,000 to 50,000 years ago and includes symbolism (the use of one thing to represent another thing), complex language (with complex grammar), and complex tool use (such as the use of symmetrical tools).

Modern humans colonized sub-Himalayan East Asia by 80,000 BP (before present), Southeast Asia and Australia by 40,000 BP, Europe at least by 30,000 BP, the New World by 14,000BP, and the Pacific and Arctic by 1,000 BP.

Culture and Cultural Universals in Anthropology

Anthropologists don't just study the evolution of human beings, they also learn about their cultures, how cultures develop, and how cultures shape human behavior. If you need to refresh your memory about culture, like what it is and how it guides human behavior, take a look at these aspects:

Culture is a learned set of ideas and rules about appropriate behavior shared by a group; it's passed on from one generation to the next not by the genes but with language.

Although the contents of each culture are different, each culture has specific ideas of language (a way to communicate), ethics (concepts of right and wrong), social roles (rights and responsibilities per gender and age class), the supernatural (the realm of supernatural beings), styles of bodily decoration (styles normally indicate identity), family structure (marriage customs and rules for inheritance), sexual regulation(incest taboos and marriage customs) and food preferences (ideas of what's appropriate for consumption at various social gatherings).

Anthropology of Subsistence and Social Organization

Humanity has practiced all kinds of ways of subsistence, or getting food. This table shows different modes of subsistence and the affects they've had on social organization.

Band

Tribe

Chiefdom

State/Civilization

Subsistence:

Foraging

Foraging/pastoralism

Horticulture or (rarely) foraging

Agriculture

Mobility:

High

Medium/cyclic

Low

Lowest

Food storage:

Little: days to months

Little: weeks to months

Medium: seasons to a few years

High: reliance on stored foods

Emphasis on property:

Low but present

Medium: among pastoralists, herded animals are property of
individuals

High: elites own special items

High: major differences in material possessions by economic
class

Attitudes toward social ranking:

Low: little stratification and generally equal access to
resources for all members

Medium: among pastoralists, families with more animals have
higher rank

High: hereditary elite class exists, but has more power to
coerce than command